


A Sunny Afternoon

by MillionMileMountain



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, First Meeting, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 20:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14065293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MillionMileMountain/pseuds/MillionMileMountain
Summary: Ren is a bit sore about having to stay inside on the first (and probably only) pleasant afternoon she'll see all summer. Until the cider delivery arrives.





	A Sunny Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first piece of fiction on this site, and the first thing of worth I've written in several years, so I may be a bit rusty, but I still hope you enjoy! Please drop a comment or kudos if you'd like!

On days like today, when the sun’s heat was dampened by a quiet fall breeze and the few trees around the Woven Gulch began to change their colours, Ren would often go for a hike. She knew the paths like the back of her hand, having been here for a good fifty years or so. Sure, it might be a little odd for the average passerby to see a drow basking in the sunlight, but with her trusty pair of fantasy sunglasses and a nice sun hat, hikes were often pleasant. When the weather was just right and the mood struck her, she’d often close down the Davy Lamp for the afternoon, making sure to come back and open in time for the dinner rush.

But not today. Ren leaned on the counter, playing with the brim of her sunhat as it sat, unused, on the bar’s surface. Of course it had to be today. The perfect day for a stroll out in the fresh air, and she was stuck inside waiting for a delivery. She eyed the clock. Maybe if she cut it with the usual chit chat the vendor always liked to dabble in, she could get the order stocked in the back room with enough time for maybe a half hour outdoors. A little sunshine was always better than nothing. But no, Redcheek Senior always stopped for a   
bit of gossip, and Ren wasn’t one to turn down an elderly halfling’s chance at a little socialization.

She straightened up, polishing a glass out of idle habit. There weren’t even any customers in the bar; maybe if she just left a key with the shop keeper next door, they could handle the delivery between the two of them? She sighed forlornly, stowing the glass back under the counter. No, the afternoons were always for Mrs. and Mrs. Gunderson, she wouldn’t want to put her responsibilities on their shoulders just for an afternoon jog.

Just as she was considering leaving a key under the mat and a note on the deck post outside, the bell above the door rang out, snapping her out of her daydreaming. A stack of crates was wobbling its way through the entry, a pair of slender legs poking out from beneath the stack.

“Where do ya want ‘em?” a voice grunted out, a hand quickly gripping the edges of a crate to keep the stack from falling.

“Right there is fine!” Ren called out, practically leaping over the counter and supporting the stack form the other side. “Let’s set it down nice and easy,” she guided, breathing a sigh of relief when the boxes hit the floor safely. She bent down to inspect them; not even a scratch to the wood, and the bottles seemed to be fine too.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” the voice behind the cider crates squeaked. “I told my brothers not to pack ’em in so tightly, but I guess they didn’t listen too well.”

Ren lifted her head and peaked around the stack, ready to dismiss any apologies, but her words caught in her throat. Before her was a young Halfling woman, her hair spiraling past her shoulders in slightly-unkempt braids. Her face was a bit reddened from the sun and the strain of lifting the crates, but it only served to highlight the dark freckles that were scattered across the bridge of her nose and across both cheeks. Her mouth, lips pink and bright, parted in a grin, her blue eyes sparkling with something akin to mischief.

“You all right there, Ms. Ren? Looks like a cat caught your tongue.”

Ren blinked rapidly, trying to clear her thoughts. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. My name is Noelle Redcheek. I know you were expecting my daddy, but he twisted his knee last week and is having me run some deliveries in his stead. I hope that’s all right with you?” Her mouth twisted into a smirk, no doubt picking up on Ren’s darkening cheeks.

Ren swallowed past another lump in her throat. The sun must have hit the windows in just the right place because it sure was getting warm. “Y-yeah, that’s more than fine.”

Noelle seemed to glance up and down, taking in Ren for a moment before smiling widely. “Well I’m just gonna go get the rest of the delivery.” She turned on her heel, bouncing out the door with perhaps a little more flounce than strictly necessary.

As Noelle rustled around the cart outside, Ren glanced down to the stack of cider crates, out to the delivery wagon, and back up to the mostly-clear afternoon sky. But as she noticed the halfling coming back towards the Davy Lamp, a considerably lighter load in her arms, she shrugged with less resignation than before as she started to stock the shelves behind the counter. Crate after crate filed through the door, and friendly chatter filled the air as two o’clock turned to three, turned to four, turned to six. As she served Noelle yet another glass of water, listening with rapt attention as she told her story, she was oddly glad she hadn’t gone hiking.


End file.
